Dental Veneers

Introduction about Veneers

Veneers are prosthetic restorations that are made from resin composite or porcelain. They are layered on top of misshapen, discoloured or damaged teeth. They can be used to close gaps that are unsuitable for a full tooth replacement. The veneers hide any disfiguration beneath. Any malalignment is also hidden under the veneer, thus patients who chose this option can often avoid lengthy procedures like orthodontics which can take a couple of years. The duration of the treatment can be as short as a single visit, however more commonly, it will be a week apart. 

Type of Veneers

There are 2 types of veneers available.

They differ in the material used to fabricate them. These are composite veneers and porcelain veneers. We often refer to them as direct and indirect veneers respectively. This is because composite veneers are placed directly onto the tooth in 1 visit, whereas porcelain veneers require at least 2 visits and are made indirectly from the mouth in a laboratory. The choice of material will initially have a little difference in the aesthetic outcome but in the long run, porcelain veneers offer better durability and require less maintenance.

Veneers Application Procedure

• During your procedure, a local anesthetic is usually administered but in conservative cases where tooth reduction is not required it might not be.
• If a cosmetic mock up has been made, then it is used as a template to guide the dentist for any tooth reduction, which is when we make space for the veneer. In straightforward cases, the dentist reduces the labial (front part) of the tooth without the need for an aesthetic mock up. 
• A physical impression or a digital impression is then taken and sent to the laboratory as the basis, to manufacture the porcelain veneer. If a composite veneer is planned, then the dentist will place, shape and polish some composite resin onto the tooth immediately. Once a composite resin is polished, the treatment is completed.
• However, for a porcelain veneer, a fit session will be scheduled a week later for the dentist to remove the temporary veneers and cement the definitive porcelain veneers.

Advantages of Veneers

The main advantage of veneers is its convenience, because this treatment can be done within several visits. This means, there is minimal downtime. The immediate colour changes are stable and with the use or porcelain veneers, they also have the advantage of being stain resistant, due to the non-porous nature of the material. 

Cost of Veneers in Singapore

Porcelain veneers can cost around $2000.00, while composite veneers cost about one third of that. Bear in mind that veneers are often done in sets across many teeth especially for full arch smile makeovers.